TODAY’S DEVOTION (FRIDAY 20TH DECEMBER 2024)
“The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads. The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.
And the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush. The name of the third river is Hiddekel; it is the one which goes toward the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.
Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. Genesis 2:8-15 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 355TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT!
We give God the praise for giving us another day. It is another weekend from the LORD; what can we say than to tell Him, “Thank You LORD.” Many are dying and many are perishing, we are only alive by His grace.
One major thing the LORD is doing today is to help us not to go astray in our hearts. So many believers are going astray in their hearts, and things are not fine with so many spiritually. When we go astray and begin to follow our own ways, things do not go down well after a while. That is why God has a system of calling us to order when we go astray.
The system God uses to call us back to order when we go astray in our hearts is righteous spiritual fathers.
Yes, when we want to take decisions that will destroy our lives, that is the system God uses to execute a rescue for us. The ministry of righteous fathers, both spiritual and biological, is one ministry that is lacking in the lives of so many today. That is why there is a lot of bad decisions.
Let me share some life situations that require righteous fathers to come in and minister to us.
When we become of age, and fit to get married, who are the people we were supposed to meet for guidance, counselling and wisdom; especially the wisdom to get and stay married? Righteous fathers! When we are embarking on leadership journeys, and we want to be leaders over our community, who were we supposed to meet first for consultation? Righteous fathers!
When we want to carry out great projects that will impact the lives of others, who were we supposed to meet for guide? Righteous fathers. When we are trying to raise our children and finding it difficult to raise them, who were we supposed to meet for help? Righteous fathers.
THE MINISTRY OF RIGHTEOUS FATHERS IS MORE CRITICAL AND NECESSARY THAN MANY REALIZE.
When our lives are invaded, and we want to mobilize ourselves to build a wall of peace to resist the invasion, who were we supposed to meet for counsel? Righteous fathers. When we are caught in crisis, who are the people we were supposed to meet for wisdom to navigate our lives out of those crises? Righteous fathers!
When a woman is pregnant, especially for the first time, who was she supposed to be consulting from time to time? Off course, a righteous mother but the righteous mother will need the backbone of a righteous father to minister to her daughter effectively.
What We are trying to say this morning is this; God created the earth and all the life in it to be sustained by righteous fathers. We see that in what He said to the first righteous father that was created and commanded to take care of life on earth. Our devotional text says;
“The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed.
And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads. The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.
And the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush. The name of the third river is Hiddekel; it is the one which goes toward the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.
Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. Genesis 2:8-15 NKJV
IN THIS SCRIPTURE, WE CAN SEE THE FIRST SYSTEM GOD CREATED FOR MANAGING HUMAN AFFAIRS; THE SYSTEM OF RIGHTEOUS FATHERING!!
God did not originally create government or any other system to manage human affairs. He created righteous fathering to manage human affairs. That is why where there are no righteous fathers to help us manage our life affairs, even the church and the government will not be able to help us sometimes.
If you look at the order, God originally ordained righteous fathers to be the governor of their homes or houses. In Bible days, He instructed men to appear before Him three times a year, not women or children. The vision was to raise the men to be righteous fathers in their homes, so that society will be intact, and lives will not be broken.
But today that order has been broken. Men no longer appear before God, and we no longer have sufficient righteous fathers. Where righteous fathers exist, you find some women and youths not yielding to them, but living a dangerously independent life.
If your life is broken as a youth or as a woman, the answer might not lie in prayer, fasting, or any other thing. The answer might lie in planting yourself within the system of righteous fathering. If you do, your restoration and recovery will shoot out very fast.
Sadly, some broken lives do not even know their lives are broken. While those who know do not have the attitude to be ministered to. So, when God gives them righteous fathers, they harm, injure, and eventually destroy the structure with arrogance, rebellion and all kinds of terrible behavior that will not let God fix their broken lives.
What God ordain righteous fathers to do, even the best government will not be able to do. The society will be broken where there are no righteous fathers.
Youths will be dying premature, wherever their ears are not tuned to the counsel of righteous fathers. Mothers will have a problem raising their kids where there are no righteous fathers to give the much-needed support.
EVERYTHING GOD CREATED AND PLANTED IN THE GARDEN, WAS PUT UNDER THE CARE OF ADAM, THE FIRST RIGHTEOUS FATHER ON EARTH.
Your life will need the care, wisdom, chastisement, discipline, counsel, instruction, and hospitality of a righteous father, spiritual or biological, for it to be what God created it to be, because as we can see in this scripture, from the original intent, God wanted the earth sustained by Him the Righteous One, through Adam, a righteous father.
God designed your life to be sustained, built up, healed, delivered, restored, or made to prosper by His Holy Spirit through the ministry of a righteous father, biological or spiritual. That should tell us why one of the last moves of God is to turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children back to their fathers.
The Bible says if that did not happen, the earth will be struck with a curse.
In other words, if we do not submit our hearts to the ministry of righteous fathers, biological or spiritual, the earth of our lives will be stricken with a curse. In simple terms, our lives be like an accursed life. Yes, if you do not have an ear that is tuned to a righteous father, Biological or spiritual, we will not live our days to the full.
All these points to one truth; Righteous fathers, biological or spiritual, are life architects – they are the vessels God uses in building our lives until we enter into divine pattern and glorious significance. You see that in the lives of some in Bible days.
For example, Paul. He was one to Timothy, Titus, and others. Yes, he was a righteous spiritual father God used to function as a wise master builder, who labored in word and doctrine until the lives of those under him were built into apostolic significance and eternal success.
Samuel was a biological father who raised his children well, but sadly they refused to walk in his way, leading to Israel moving from theocracy to monarchy. But the Sons of Rechab were raised by a righteous father and they listened to him and because generational icons in the area of submission and obedience. God had to use them to speak to Israel about
A life without a righteous father in it, will be darkened by the forces of darkness and will be out of course. There are so many youths without bearing in life because they have no voices of righteous fathers in their live.
God wants us all planted within the system of righteous fathers, biological or spiritual. He want our hearts to turn to our fathers, and when they do, so that He can bless us with the blessings we need to become all He has created us to be. Amen
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AND ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR TEH DAY!!!
“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.” Exodus 20:12 NKJV